This latter convention was not held or elected by virtue of any act of
the Territorial or State legislature; it originated from the people
themselves, and was chosen by them in pursuance of resolutions adopted
in primary assemblies held in the respective counties. The act of
Congress, however, does not prescribe by what authority the convention
shall be ordered, or the time when or the manner in which it shall be
chosen. Had these latter proceedings come to me during the recess of
Congress, I should therefore have felt it my duty, on being satisfied
that they emanated from a convention of delegates elected in point
of fact by the people of the State for the purpose required, to have
issued my proclamation thereon as provided by law; but as the authority
conferred on the President was evidently given to him under the
expectation that the assent of the convention might be laid before him
during the recess of Congress and to avoid the delay of a postponement
until the meeting of that body, and as the circumstances which now
attend the case are in other respects peculiar and such as could not
have been foreseen when the act of June 15, 1836, was passed, I deem
it most agreeable to the intent of that law, and proper for other
reasons, that the whole subject should be submitted to the decision of
Congress.
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